Janice: Dudes, I need to lay off the sugar while I'm writing.
Merry: I disagree.
Pippin: I do too.
Merry: You need more sugar in your system, it make you write better.
Janice: It does?!
Merry: Yea… it does!
Janice: Yeah!
Mr. Movie Phone's Voice: (Really fast) Janice does not own the Lord of the Rings. If she did it would be the end of the world. She also doesn't own me. But she does own her own characters which were created with her best friend.
Thanks: ClumsyElf, more of her friends will be showing up later. lotrelves I can only smile creepily at you. alfalfa7 yet another person (I think) I can smile creepily at. Flame Rising I have played 52 pick up on a freeway during rush hour, and, around here, we have fifteen cars that pass everyday for two and a half hours! It's alright if you don't like it, everyone is allowed to have their own opinions (smiles creepily)… Wow… I do need to lay off the sugar.
Shards of the Future
Chapter 5: The Things that Came and Scared the Shit Out of Me in the Night
"Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light."— Dorothy Thompson
Everybody kept drinking and having a good time. I remember hearing Frodo sing in off to the side of me and then and thunk. Looking down to see what made the noise, I saw nothing. Everyone around had gasped.
"Where did he go?" someone asked.
"He just disappeared!" said another.
I looked over at Sarah who looked as though she was struggling to hide something. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Man-of-Many-Names drag something— or someone— up the stairs and to his solitary room in the dark corner of the halls. Sam, Pippin, Merry, Sarah and Elsa dashed up after him. I picked up my skirts and followed. Running in a skirt wasn't easy, for those who don't know. They weigh you down and you can easily rip or tear them. That, and they were hot! Now, these skirts were my favourite; they were cooler than most and very light, normal for summer wear but odd for October. But when you work in a tavern, it was normal to wear cooler things, as the heat tends to rise dramatically during the drinking hours.
They had grabbed random objects and had charged into the room. I cursed under my breath and continued down the hall. Reaching the door, I hadn't realized they had stopped and nearly fell onto Pippin, who was closest to the door and easy to miss in the shadows.
"Gwen," Aragorn said, I met his dark eyes, "we are going to need some tea."
I stood over the stove, the kettle on, waiting for the thing to whistle me over.
"Oi, missy!" an obviously drunk customer slurred. "The fire needs more wood. Mind getting a few logs?" I hollered at him that I would. It'd take a while for the water to boil anyway.
The air had a crispy chill to it. It was much cooler than what I had thought it was. I wish I had brought my cloak. In the dark, I spotted the wood pile. It stood, looming, against the stable. A small grove a trees, apple if I remember correctly, rose above the roof. Small shrubs splattered here and there.
SNAP!
I jumped. Someone— or something— was watching me. I quickly grabbed a few logs, hoping to get out of the area as quickly as possible.
"Do not be afraid," said a calm voice. It flowed through my head; threateningly but warmly, as if a good friend had been talking to me.
The first thought that came to my mind was: scream like bloody murder. What would you do if you heard a voice in your head for some unexplained reason? The second thought was: grab the wood and go inside, forget about the voice and just go on living the new life I lead. Then the third: speak to the voice like an idiot. Yea, I chose the dumbest.
"Why shouldn't I be afraid?" I asked softly to the nippy air. "I'm hearing you in my head after all." A chuckle.
"Hearing isn't everything." the voice said, amusement in its voice.
"What do you mean?"
"Seeing is much, much more." I decided now was the best time to go and hide inside from the voice. But it seems the intangible voice had other plans. "You are going to leave aren't you?" But before the voice could say anything further, a loud boom (almost like a wooden gate falling down on a helpless man, caused by creatures of darkness) reached my ears.
I dropped the wood and ran inside, ducking beneath a table, along with the few customers left and Butterbur. The kettle was practically screaming to be taken off the stove now. I wanted to run into the kitchen and tell it to shut it, but fear had glued me to the spot when I saw four cloaked figures, abysmal and frightening, walk— no glide— through the door and up the stairs. When they had disappeared into a room, I sprinted over to Butterbur.
"What are they?" I asked him. "I have never seen such beings before."
"I do not know." he said quietly.
What seemed like hours (perhaps only minutes), the shadowy figures were gone. I ran up the stairs and checked the damage. I was pleased to find no one was hurt, the room was a mess though. Elsa and Sarah came up behind me and gasped.
"I never thought the damage was this much." Sarah said quietly. Elsa and I looked at her eyebrows raised. "The movie and the books." We nodded, not really understanding but allowed it to pass… for the time
The next morning, Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Sarah, Elsa, and I set out for Rivendell. Barliman Butterbur allowed me to leave, as that was part of the promise. He said I was welcome to come back and work for him at anytime.
Before leaving, Sam had bought a poor looking horse, as all of the other ones in town mysteriously disappeared. It was a pitiful thing, the horse. His skin stuck close to his bones. His mane was knotty and full of (dead and alive) bugs.
I remember Pippin complaining to Aragorn how they didn't get all of their meals in at one point. Everyone just patted him on the shoulder and shook their heads. We were lucky to get two meals a day, even one sometimes, let alone seven or eight. In my opinion, hobbits need to eat less. Though, they're just as, if not more, swift as the elves, according to Sarah.
Throughout the long trek through the wilderness, the voice and I had many conversations in my head. I found this out on the second day of walking that it could read my mind. It was unsettling, yes, but I got used to it. The only way I knew I was hanging onto sanity was because Sarah would often punch me brutally (if not inhumanly) in the arm. I had bruises on my arm the size of melons.
After the long walk, we found ourselves at Weathertop. Interesting name, Weathertop, for a fort in the middle of nowhere. Was it because you could predict weather at the top of it? I guess not, because there is a ballad having to with how it became and how it fell. I didn't catch all of it because I was conversing with the intangible voice. Then Phantom of the Opera began to play. I must have begun to hum it, because everybody was staring at me.
"Sorry." I said, hiding my face.
"It's alright." Aragorn said.
'He's right, you have a very lovely voice." Frodo said. I snorted.
"Yea right. Sarah has a prettier singing voice than I do, trust me."
"Yeah, us, Gwen, last time I did that," Sarah said, half amused, "I had a broken nose."
"It's not my fault you turned left when I said right."
"You did not say right!"
"Yes I did!"
"No you didn't!"
"Did so."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Guys!" Elsa said, smacking the back of each of our heads. She had been there when this event had happened and she had laughed her ass off. Sarah had been riding her bike and I said 'turn right' but she had turned left. "Knock it off, will you? Gwen it was your fault Sarah broke her nose. Sarah, you're an idiot. And, I'll admit it, it was histarical."
"Oh, shut it, Elsa." Sarah pouted.
"Hey, Elsa, I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get here? You weren't with Sarah, Glenys, Raina and I." I looked at her.
"I snuck out of the house." she said, combing her fingers through her dark hair. "You guys used to go out every night on one of your birthdays, and it was yours, so— I thought— why not try to pull a prank? A harmless one, only meant to scare you. Then those things started chasing you and then I fell off the cliff. I woke up in some forest and they found me." She gestured to the hobbits. "Thought I had gone insane until I saw Sarah with them, then I thought it was a nightmare. And then she punched me in the arm!"
"Sorry!"
"You're not!"
"Yea, you're right. It was funny, though."
"Everything's funny with you lot." Merry said.
"Do you guys hear that?" Frodo asked.
"Hear what?" Pippin asked, popping a hot tomato into his mouth. He offered me some, I rejected immediately. I despise the very existence of tomatoes.
"Everyone, to the very top!" Aragorn ordered. We abandoned the fire at once and ran to the top. The hobbits had weapons of sorts, while Sarah, Elsa and I wielded kitchen utensils we borrowed from Sam. Sarah had two fairly large butcher knives, Elsa a small knife (like a butter knife, only sharper), and I had a frying pan. Yes, I dearly loved the frying pan. It reminded me of Chichi from Dragonball Z, I miss that show.
We kept a tight circle around Frodo, who bore some magic ring that could destroy the world if it fell into the wrong hands. I hadn't seen it yet myself, but Sarah admitted to me that it frightened her and she wasn't scared of shit.
Piercing screeches rose from the night, as did four plus one of the shadow being that had been at the Prancing Pony. I clutched the frying pan tighter, my knuckles white. I wasn't sure what happened next but I found myself in the midst of a battle. The next thing I knew, I had hit a pillar, my breath gone. One of the things loomed over me, as I tried to gather air into my lungs.
I shut my eyes, waiting for… something, but… it never came. I looked up to see black and red fur, and I gasped. It was the wolf from the night we were transported here.
Janice: I'm one for time moving quickly, if you haven't noticed. I really just want the story to progress and get to the Council (I should have it in a chapter or two). I'm trying to mix book and movies (real and cartoon).
Legolas: You swear a lot, did you know that?
Janice: I'm human, what can I say?
Aragorn: Not all humans swear.
Janice: Well, la-de-fucking-da for you, Man-of-Many-Names.
Aragorn: Tell, Legolas, why are we working with her, again?
Legolas: Because, she threatened to cut us open with rusty scissors, torture us to no end, and feed us to the wolves when we're near death. That, and, cut off my beautiful hair.
Aragorn: That explains everything.
Janice: Another short chapter btw… I am working on it! Honestly, I am!
Merry: In her mind!
Janice: Fine, you hobbits are the reason why my chapters are short!
Sorry that this wasn't up yesterday, I had trouble getting to ff.nt and a computer. I did find The Lonely Sea but I have to upload it.